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 Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2014 1:24 pm
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Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2014 5:03 pm
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001. New Beginnings
The sun burned high up in the afternoon sky and the wind was stale, unsympathetic to the scorching heat. Crissie hobbled across the baked pavement, exhausted, malnourished and desperate for a drink of water. She remembered how when she was little, on hot summer days such as this, she would turn on the sprinkler in the yard and dance around the water. It had been fun and carefree. Sometimes her sister would come out and join and their mom would make a big pitcher of homemade lemonade and sit on the porch in her overalls, lean back in her chair, and watch them with amusement in her eyes.
She gulped, imagining a mouth full of sweet refreshing lemonade trickling down the back of her throat. In reality her mouth tasted like sand and she had thrown back the last couple drops from her canteen yesterday. The road she had chosen was marching her through the middle of an abandoned neighborhood, cleaned out long ago by the Wasps. Some houses had the windows boarded shut, some had the occasional blood smear, but every single one had a large splatter of acid burned into the front of the house.
Crissie's vision started to blur and she stumbled, hitting the asphalt hard with her knees. She looked to the nearest house. It's stupid what you're doing. She thought to herself. The Wasps have marked them. There won't be anything for you. No food, no water. Nothing, like always. Heedless, she pushed herself forward and shuffled towards the house.
Once inside she found that she could think a little clearer. Dust floated in the air and littered every surface, but it was cooler than the outside air and the house seemed fairly untouched. Safe. she thought, relieved. She went straight to the kitchen, the paint chipping from the walls everywhere she touched. It was a wreck. The walls were covered in mildew from years of weathering and the floors had been taken over by nature. The entire room was smashed as well. Cupboard doors were ripped off from the hinges revealing empty shelves. The refrigerator was laying in the middle of the room, doors wide open. The only remnants of food inside was a few empty boxes. Above her the roof was caved in and the floor she was standing on was giving way from her weight. She scuttled forward towards the sink.
The sink was smashed as well, fragments of the basin were littered across the floor, crunching as she stepped on them. The faucet was riddled with rust. Still, she jiggled the knob. It wouldn't give. No food and no water. Just like I thought. She walked into the room next door. Pushed against the wall was an old sofa. The cushions had been ripped apart by rats but she hobbled towards it anyway. For a second she stood over it, debating the sanitation of sleeping there, before exhaustion took hold and she crashed. At least I can have a place out of the sun to sleep.
It seemed like she had only just closed her eyes when she was jolted awake. There was a boy holding her down by her shoulders, a knife to her throat. Darkness surrounded them. She struggled but the hold he had on her was too strong.
"Who are you?" he spat. "What are you doing here? Are you working for them? Huh?" his voice shook, just under a shout. "Are you?"
Chrissie drunkenly shook her head, too intimidated to say anything else. The boy let off a bit and she bucked, her knee making contact with a crunching noise in his face. The boy cursed and fell over and she jumped up and moved away. She turned her back ready to dash when she heard a very familiar clicking sound behind her. A sinking feeling overwhelmed her as she realized that he had a gun pointed at her.
"Turn around, slowly." the boy said. She did.
He was holding his hand up to his nose, blood dripping between his fingers. Anger flashed in his eyes before they softened.
"I'm not going to shoot you." he said, lowering his gun. "Look, its been a long time since I've come across anyone. I wasn't sure there were people still out there. You just took me by surprise."
He looked down at his feet. Crissie inched towards the door.
He glanced at her. "Here, you can stay. I was going to head out tonight anyway." He began picking items off of the ground and shoving them into a bag.
"No." Crissie found herself saying. "Why don't we both stay. We might have a better chance if we stick together." Stupid, stupid, stupid.
The boy dropped his bag on the floor and smiled. He closed the gap in between the two of them and held out his hand.
"Ivon" he said.
She took his hand and shook it. "Crissie".
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Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2014 7:57 pm
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002. Cause/Effect
The Day of the Attack
"Run!" a blood curdling shriek pierced Crissie's ears. People were congesting the streets all around her, bumping and shoving into her. The sky was dark with swarming ships. Space ships that twisted and turned and dove and wove through the crowds of people, leaving burning corpses in its wake. The sickly sweet aroma that perfumed off the singed corpses was the worst of it. Never mind the alien race that had brought the Apocalypse down upon them, the torture was watching people she'd known all her life turned into runny barbecue. Whatever the aliens sprayed out of their quick little personalized space ships had to be some form of acid, as Sally Mill's melted face would tell you.
Crissie was bolting along with the others. It was instinct to run with the herd in a disaster, never mind that it just made the lot of them a much easier target for the acid rain above. Her mind was numb. Her body was numb. She was operating purely on reflex, taking in nothing. A drone swooped down behind her and spewed the orange slime on the people behind her. A chorus of agonized screams shot up before they died down under the sizzling that marinated against their flesh.
She didn't know if her family was alive or where in the crowd they were running, and unlike in most movies where the heroin was running for her life, her first thought was not for her family, and she did not boldly go back for them. No, fear had taken over, natural instinct to preserve one's self.
Right above her head she heard the sound of a drone buzzing and the chuk chuk of the sprayer loading its next round of acid. She ducked into an alley just as the orange slime flew over her head onto the runners before her. A drop of the fluid landed on her shoulder and she screamed. It felt like someone had just torn out a piece of her. She didn't slow down. She ducked and dodged and weaved. Going along with the crowd obviously wasn't working anymore.
Once in the alley the screams were less audible. Drones flew by overhead but ignored the small girl wedged between a wall and a dumpster, going where they could make the most damage. Just ahead of her was a sewer cap. She lifted it off and smelled the repugnant gases immediately burning her nose. She was about to jump in but hesitated for a moment thinking of her family. She knew, even then, that if she left she would most likely never see them again. She also knew that if she stayed she would most likely never see anyone. She twirled around and climbed down the ladder, closing the sewer cap above her.
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Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2014 9:30 pm
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003. Peace of Mind
Know No Peace.
A humming sound nudged Crissie into consciousness. Across from her Ivan was snoring rather loudly. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and stifled a yawn, looking around groggily. She stumbled out of bed, her eyes puffy and red. To a passerby she might look severely hung over. "Ivan." she murmured, fighting the urge to curl back on the couch. He smacked his lips and rolled over, pulling the blankets up higher, a dribble of drool snaking away from the corners of his mouth.
Why had she gotten up again? She stood wavering, trying to balance herself in her sleepiness. Had she heard something? She looked around. There was only darkness around and a deafening quiet. Maybe she had been dreaming? She bit her lip. They'd made a rule about these things. No matter what it was, if you had the tiniest inkling of a feeling or suspicion they had promised they would wake the other and move out, but she hesitated.
The last few days had been hard on them, Ivan in particular. His dedication to stick together and insure both of their survival baffled her. Here he was, protecting her, sticking his neck out for her, when she left her own family behind to protect her own skin. As they had traveled, moving from town to town he would constantly scout ahead and would offer her his own supplies when hers went dry. She didn't understand it, but she was grateful for it, and as such she wanted to let him rest.
They had both been near exhaustion when they had found the little house they were holed up in now. It had been weeks since they'd passed any kind of shelter. They had slept right out in the open taking shifts. Neither one of them was rested. It was some farm home, with large fields that could only have been for cattle at some point, though the Wasps would have burned them or taken them long ago. They had to break the door down to get through, but they decided they needed to prop it back up. If not for any actual safety, at least it would make them feel a little better having some separation between them and the outside. Ivan barely had his eyes open and his muscles were shaking with exhaustion as he tried to lift the door back up. Crissie had offered to do it, but he insisted she go and rest. She couldn't bare to wake him now, for something that she had probably imagined.
Again a humming sound resonated through the darkness and Crissie's eyes went wide, immediately realizing she'd made a mistake. She quietly shuffled to Ivan and grabbed him.
"Wha-?" he jumped before she clamped her hand firmly across his mouth. The humming grew louder and lights flashed across the house. Both their eyes were wide as they froze there, neither daring to even breath. When the lights subsided and the humming died away they both jumped up and as quietly and quickly as they could, scooped up their backpacks and made their way to the window behind the couch.
Crissie tried to open it but the window had long since been painted shut. Ivan pushed her out of the way and with a soft creek lifted the shutter open and held it there for Crissie to climb through. Ivan followed behind her but when he let go of the shutter it slammed down with a deafening crack that resonated through the night. They both froze and shared a look of disbelief. A drone lifted up from behind the other side of the house, supposedly waiting by the front door, the humming emitting deep vibrations. With a scream the drone shot off a small baseball sized capsule that landed right between the two of them.
Before either of them had the chance to move the capsule slit open with a crack of light and scanned its surroundings. When it befell the two humans hunched over scared like deer in the headlights it beeped and shut closed. As soon as it did the drone began to hum as it sped towards them. They both bolted across the field towards the trees at the end of the line, the drone closing in behind them. The drone wouldn't be able to maneuver in the forest and would turn away if they could get there first.
"Run, Criss!" Ivan shouted but she already was. She was running like she never had before, faster than the night of the invasion, faster than any night since, because the Wasps were no longer exterminating humans. They were collecting them and Crissie would be damned if she were captured. The humming seemed to be right on her neck as she broke through the tree line, the humming zipping off to avoid crashing. She kept running. She wasn't going to give it time to latch a tracker bug on her.
When exhaustion finally caught up with her and she collapsed in the forest she realized that she was alone. "Ivan?" she shouted. No reply. "Ivan!" still no reply. She stifled a cry and clamped her mouth shut to avoid wailing. Had she truly just left behind the only person still alive in the world who cared for her? Had she run so far ahead that she left him for the drone? Tears flowed from her eyes and her mouth gaped open in a silent cry. Along once again.
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Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2014 3:08 pm
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004. Childhood Memories
Before
Her dreams took her back to the past, when the world at least made sense.
"What are you doing?"
Crissie looked down. Her sister stood on the ground below her looking up at her with a judgmental glance and her lips pierced into a thin line.
"I'm hanging upside down."
Her sister scoffed "No, duh." she spun on her heel and left. Crissie's shirt kept falling in her face and she kept shoving it back but it had gotten boring just holding it there so she swung up, locking her arms between the bars and heaved herself upright. Her sister was still marching away. Crissie pouted. She wasn't any fun anymore.
Suddenly the front door slammed open and her father came huffing out the door, teetering on his heels, a bottle of wine in his hand.
"Crys c**'ere." he slurred. She jumped down from the monkey bars and ran over, a smile on her face.
"Gah, lookatchu." he wobbled, a fire in his eyes. "You look jus' like 'im." He pulled back his hand and slapped her across the face. The force knocked Crissie backwards and she wailed. The wind had been knocked out of her and her cheek stung. Her mother came running out.
"What the hell is wrong with you?! Get out! Go away!" she was yelling at her dad. Crissie tried to stand up, but wavered and fell back down.
Her dad huffed before hobbling off, muttering "Filty whore.".
Crissie's mom bent down and put a tentative hand to her face, then scooped her up and carried her inside. She'd gotten nearly drunk on ice cream that night.
Crissie opened her eyes. She was in the forest, alone. Ivan hadn't turned up. She hadn't expected him to, but she had hoped. She had hoped that he hadn't gotten captured, she had hoped that he would be able to find her in the woods. I'm meant to be alone. she thought sadly, before closing her eyes again, unsure of which world was kinder.
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Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2014 10:21 pm
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005. Speed
Ivon starred at the mirror and watched eagerly as his friend took a little plastic baggy from his jacket pocket and shook some white crystals onto the mirror. His friend's eyes were sunken and over the last couple months his teeth had deteriorated to a state where he would be best off taking them out completely. He had a cigarette rolled in his mouth, lit, smoking and stinking. Ivon batted away the plume.
"Dude, hurry up." his friend looked at him dead eyed and rolled the cigarette around in his mouth. "You wanna chill, man? There is an art to laying out a speed line."
Ivon rolled his eyes and tapped his fingers against his lap before finally becoming to anxious to wait. He snatched the mirror from the table and chopped the crystals up with a bare razor blade and then shoved a straw in his nose and snorted. It cut his nose on the way down and he pulled the straw out, a booger hanging on the tip. He pressed his tongue against his cheek and dropped the straw back onto the mirror and leaned back. Now to just chill for a bit and let it all go, let everything go...
Ivon was staring at the ceiling, watching a fly buzz around and tapping his fingers against the arm rest. His eyes darted from side to side. He'd been hearing sounds for the last half hour. Suddenly a low hum thrummed from somewhere outside the wall. He propped up in his chair. "Dude! There it is again!" His friend was laying on the sofa across from him. "Man, you're just on some heavy duty s**t. Chill out."
"No, man. I'm telling you I'm hearing something."
His friend pulled his beanie down over his eyes. "Man, its like 4 AM over here and we're out in hick's-ville. Ain't nobody makin any noise sept maybe to chase an alligator out of their barn."
Ivon couldn't control the uneasiness he was feeling. He had to get out of here, he had to move. "Naw, ******** yall man. Some s**t is about to go down. I'm gettin out of here."
His friend waved a sleepy hand after him. "Suit yourself man." he slurred. "But I'm tellin' ya its just the drugs."
Ivon stepped outside, letting the door clack shut behind him. Their was a heavy breeze outside. He thought that he could see a fire on the horizon, but that seemed too crazy, even for drugs. <******** this, I'm gonna hide in the woods until s**t calms down."
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Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2014 1:12 am
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